Tuesday, July 28, 2015

SONKGRAN THE THAI NEW YEAR






All the pictures are from Pattaya, it was way too hectic in the locations that I went to to carry a camera around. Also i'm kicking myself for realizing that I don't have any quality video of this great week, oh well, maybe I just have to come back again.

This past Songkran I had the privilege to celebrate my seventh Songkran in Thailand, three of them I’ve celebrated in Bangkok and the rest in Pattaya. This year I actually managed to do both Bangkok and Pattaya for the first time, I celebrated two nights in Bangkok and one in Pattaya. Bangkok being so big it is only celebrated in certain locations that are worth going to (if you want the ultimate water fight experience) such as Khao San road, Silom, and RCA. Other individual spots also arrange pool parties and foam parties such as the club Narsisist that has a foam party for every day of Songkran. This year also RCA arranged a massive concert with world class artists such as Afrojack and Deadmou5e to name a few.  For those who don’t know what Songkran is, it is the traditional Thai New Year and mainly celebrated in Thailand and is some other areas of South East Asia. The reason it is the New Year because it follows the Buddhist/Hindu solar calendar and the purpose of throwing water is because it’s a way of washing away the sins and bad luck. Often when locals come pour (or spray) water on you, they say Happy New Year or vice versa you can go pour (or again, spray) it on the locals and often they will acknowledge you with a smile and Wai (putting the hands together and bowing the head).

Me personally I was at Khao San twice and club narsisist once and the first thing you realize is that once you get to Khao San road is that it is packed, very packed with people. It takes a good solid hour to walk through from one end to the other end. The atmosphere is great, people are soaking wet and shooting water at each other in all directions and everyone seems to be dancing as soon as they hear music, the mood is very festive to say the least. Sonkgran is a great way to connect with the locals as they rarely go out in such a fashion as they do on Songkran. If you are at Khao San I suggest you pick wisely a street bar to park at with your friends, order a bucket or drinks and just stand there shooting at by walkers while listening to good music. This is always the best way because you avoid being in the crowds and have space while still part taking in the water fighting. 

As Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday rolled past and Bangkok sonkgran was celebrated once again, I left for Pattaya on Friday, where Songkran is celebrated on Sunday which I was sure not to miss.  Having celebrated some of my most memorable Songkran’s there I was really looking forward to it. My friends and I have a tradition of getting a pick-up truck and a driver to drive us around the town from noon onwards. From the back of this pick-up we shoot and throw water stopping in front of people who have water fights on the streets and honestly it is the best way to do it. In Pattaya the streets are everywhere flooded with people within the immediate area, the cars are all packed with people throwing water and the whole city is in a festive mood.  Beach road (the main road) is closed for water fighters; think of Khao San road but twice as long and twice as wide and everyone throwing water. It’s amazing how fast a good solid six hours can go by when you have so much fun, and if you are hungry, need water or anything it is all within an arm’s reach on the side of the streets as people sell all of the above mentioned items next to the street at every short interval. When Songkraning you let your inner kid out, you have to. You throw and splash water at everyone and everyone does it back to you, and everyone does it with a constant smile on their face. You notice yourself just dancing to the loud music blaring from the people who party and splash water on the side of the street even stopping and jumping around with them, pulling people into your truck and so on. There is no feeling like it and honestly anyone who is in Thailand during this time period I dare you to leave Bangkok and try out other locations for Songkran such as Chiang Mai (heard it is one of the premier places), the North East (Isan) or even the islands down South.

After it gets dark we leave the car and head up to beach road by foot where the non-stop water fighting continues, Beach road is so wide so they manage to set up DJ sets and stages for people to party in front of, also the street vendors are in full mode selling everything from food to water guns, if you are one of the lucky ones who can keep going for a solid 12 plus hours then you definitely will end up at the walking street which is at the very end of beach road and has all the clubs and bars, some clubs even allow people to water fight indoors so don’t even consider yourself being safe from the water at any point . For me personally I wasn’t up to it this year, I called it quits way before midnight and headed for a well-deserved rest. Five days out of a seven day Songkran week isn’t a bad achievement in my books. Till next year, or the next time.



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